In jet propelled watercraft, such as personal watercraft or jet propelled boats, the watercraft can be propelled in reverse by lowering a reverse gate behind the output of the water jet thus redirecting the jet toward the front of the watercraft which creates a thrust in the reverse direction. The reverse gate is actuated by a hand activated reverse gate operator which, when pulled, lowers the reverse gate behind of the water jet. By actuating a throttle operator of the watercraft, which may or may not be the same device as the reverse gate operator, the amount of thrust generated by the jet propulsion system changes. Therefore, by controlling the position of the reverse gate and the amount of thrust generated by the jet propulsion system, and by actuating the reverse gate operator and the throttle operator respectively, the driver of the watercraft can control the amount of reverse thrust being generated.
Although manufacturers advise against such manoeuvres, some watercraft drivers actuate the reverse gate and request that a maximum amount of thrust be generated while going at high forward speed in an attempt to rapidly decelerate the watercraft to then start moving in reverse. However doing this in an uncontrolled manner could adversely affect control of the watercraft, and could damage the jet propulsion system and/or the reverse gate.
Therefore there is a desire for a method for reversing a watercraft when the reverse command by the driver of the watercraft is initiated while the watercraft is moving forward.